Unrequited
by True Colours
Summary: What if, instead of Kish loving Ichigo, things had happened the other way round? Written for GypsyxSilent, winner of my PaiXLettuce competition.
1. Prologue

**Unrequited**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew

**A/N: OK, I have lured you in with my juicy summary, and now can safely confess the truth: in places, this fic will suck. It was a difficult bunny. Written for GypsyxSilent, as her prize for winning my PaiXLettuce competition. Please go check out her fic and review it; I want to know what people think of it and I'm sure she does too. It is called Rain.**

**So, the prompt: What if, instead of Kish loving Ichigo and her rejecting him, it happened the other way round? Take it, True, run with it! Sometimes I ran. Sometimes I plodded. Sometimes I spouted utter jibberish at the rate of a word every minute as I waited for the bunnies to bite. But enough of this. I give you...the prologue.**

She walks along the footpath. Hesitates, frowns. The sun beats down, baking the pavement into dust.

She should put some sunscreen on the back of her neck.

But what should she do about Masaya?

She's always admired him. What girl wouldn't? He's so intelligent, so handsome, and so _kind_, not like the other boys. But actually spending time with him...it's not what she expected.

His emotions are so hard to unravel.

She felt like nothing but a responsibility when he grabbed her by the hand, but next moment he was all sweetness, apologising...

It might not be a bad sign, though...he said he was nervous...

But does she _want_ him to be nervous?

She slows to a crawl. That's the problem: she doesn't know anymore. She wants to slap herself. How can she be suddenly losing interest in a boy she's loved for so long? She's being far too picky; he's a human being, of course he can't be perfect!

But crikey, he does ramble.

Maybe they're not right for each other. Maybe they are. She doesn't want to let him go.

'What should I do?' she sighs aloud.

'Hey!'

A voice. A voice from above. A shadow falls across her face. She looks up. There is a figure there, a black form surrounded by a dazzle of sun.

'I wanted to see the human sabotaging our plans. But you're pretty cute!'

The figure swoops. Ichigo stumbles. Cold fingers grasp her chin, breath fans her lips.

She is kissed.

'My name is Kish.'

A flash of white skin...

_Golden _eyes.

He stands before her for a moment, pale tongue flicking across his lips, his eyes laughing. Ichigo can't breathe.

'Thanks for the kiss.'

He floats upwards and vanishes.

Ichigo stares.

His name is Kish. He is not human, and he is perfect.


	2. First Fight

**Chapter 1: First Fight**

**A/n: Lame chapter title, I know, but time is pressing and I had to call it something.**

She couldn't get him out of her head. Who was this strange, bold, striking boy who could swoop down – he _flew_ – and kiss her without an instant's hesitation. A voice in her mind whispered that he must be an alien. She knew this made him the enemy, but it also meant that she might well be seeing him again.

She wanted to talk about him. She remembered how, when she was crushing Masaya, she kept looking for excuses to mention him, and just saying his name made her happy. It was easy then; all her friends were just as eager as she was to talk about him. But who could she talk to about this?

No-one could know her feelings, but that wasn't all she wanted to discuss. Who was he? She needed to know.

'Shirogane-san?'

They were alone in the cafe. Minto and the new Mew, Lettuce, had gone home. She suspected that Keiichiro might be lurking somewhere, but that didn't matter now. Belatedly she realised that she could have asked him rather than moody, unpredictable Ryou. Drats. Maybe she should back down and change plans? But somehow the blonde boy seemed closer to the heart of it all, so she pressed on.

'Can I ask you something?'

He took his time responding. 'I suppose so.'

'Have you ever seen an alien?'

His back was towards her, but she could tell immediately that her words had hit him hard. He tensed, his hand freezing on the table that he was wiping down in a rare moment of solidarity, and she could see the line of his jaw harden. At last he answered with a single word.

'Yes.'

'What...what do they look like?'

He sighed and turned to face her, setting down his cloth.

'Humanoid, but pale. They don't get much sun. Long ears, sharp nails, fangs. Small ones. And some of them have unusual eye-colours, and tints of colour on their hair, dark green or blueish-purple. They can fly too, and teleport. Do you know what that means? They can transport instantly from place to place.'

'Of course I know what that means!' Ichigo bridled. Ryou simply shrugged and exited the room...leaving her to do the rest of the work by herself. Ichigo ground her teeth and began to mop.

* * *

She just couldn't seem to take interest in Masaya anymore. So how was it that she had found herself by his side again, this time on a trip to the park to spend time with animals? Something to do with how kind his eyes had looked as he'd offered her the ticket, and the fact that she was still hoping that she might come to her senses, and that everything might be OK. But probably mostly because her conniving boss had programmed Masha to lead her here, even after she'd told Masaya she couldn't make it. Most likely he imagined he's done her a favour. Stupid Ryou. Why did he have to spring things like this on her? Why couldn't he just be uniformly nasty and leave it at that?

'Ichigo, alien, alien!'

Reflexively she dived away from Masaya, rolling into the hedge as the park around her erupted with screams. Crouched on the other side, she listened intently for the source of the commotion. Her stomach flipped, partly with nerves at the thought of a fight, but – more than she liked to admit – because this meant that she might be seeing Kish again.

She peeked out from behind a tree, watching the people streaming past. With relief she noted Masaya among them. So at least he was getting out safely, and above all not searching for her, though he was looking around anxiously as he passed. Oh well. She had to fight; he was just going to have to worry.

A soft breath blew on the back of her neck.

'Kyah!' she half-screamed, whirling in shock. Her wrist swung straight into a pale hand, which closed in a vice-like grip around it. She found herself face to face with the golden-eyed alien.

For a moment she was sure that he was going to kiss her. His face was mere inches away from hers. His eyes seemed to have swallowed the world. But then he pulled back. He gave a jaunty grin. Ichigo stirred. Something wasn't right. Something was very, very wrong.

'Hello again, Koneko!' he greeted her jauntily.

She gazed at him, lips parted, heart pounding.

'You seem speechless. Is it me?'

She drew breath. She didn't know what she was planning to say. _Yes, _maybe. Anything. But before she could speak Kish gave an airy laugh and flew up into the air.

'Well, I hope you're feeling faster fighting-wise than with speaking today, because I've come to test your abilities. It's time to see how...great you are.'

He held out his hand, and a glowing infuser appeared on his palm.

_Wait, _Ichigo wanted to say, _this isn't how it's supposed to go...you're supposed to talk to me...you're not supposed to just –_

'Fusion! Go, Chimera Anima!'

Ichigo whipped round as the parasite shot over her shoulder and into the maze of cages. The ground began to shake. Then there was a screeching of metal as a colossal lion erupted from its cage, jaws wide and roaring, frenzied eyes searching for something to kill.

Ichigo felt her mind go blank as pure, animal panic took over. This wasn't some overgrown gutter rat or pet dog, it was a ferocious predator and it left every muscle in her body programmed to bolt. Except she couldn't move.

The chimera anima roared and sprang. Belatedly she unfroze, a weak flicker of the bright animal instinct cutting through her paralysis, but before she could do more than reach for her pendant the monster was upon her. One bat of its paw knocked her sprawling, and then it leapt forward, clamping her to the ground. Pinning her for its master.

'I see.' Kish floated to the ground in front of her and bent down, almost nose to nose with her. 'If you can't transform then you're just a normal human. Just when I thought I'd found myself an interesting adversary. But I guess you're pretty weak after all.'

'I –' Fury choked her so that he couldn't speak. How dare he simply toss her to the floor and prepare to finish her like this? He was going to kill her and then forget all about her! He wasn't _allowed _to forget about her!

'You bastard!' she shrieked, struggling against the lion's paw.

'Too bad,' Kish commented. 'Seems like you might have been quite interesting after all. But there'll be trouble if I let you go. Bye bye, Cat-ear-san.'

'Stop right there!'

Ichigo's head shot up as she stared past Kish. Minto and Lettuce! Thank God! She wasn't going to die, and the instant she got free she would prove to Kish in no uncertain terms that she was not an enemy to disregard.

'Ribbon Minto Eco!'

Ichigo flattened herself to the ground as the Minto Eco struck the chimera above her, then rolled free and sprang to her feet. She could feel every hair on her body standing up, not with fear but with pure rage.

'Heh,' Kish remarked, floating up into the air. 'The other toys are pretty cute too.'

Ichigo seized her pendant, practically spitting with rage. 'I won't forgive your evil actions!' she shrieked. 'You will learn not to trifle with a young girl's heart! Mew mew Strawberry, Metamorphosis!'

'That was a little different from your usual battle cry,' Mint observed dryly as Ichigo transformed.

'Ano...I...' Ichigo stumbled, then changed the subject completely. 'How did you know to find me here?'

'I saw your ticket while you were gazing blankly at it,' Mint said coolly. 'It seems most unlike you to be uncertain about spending time with Aoyama-san, Ichigo.'

'What do you mean uncertain!' Ichigo cried. 'You are the one who is spying –'

'Mina-san, look out!' Lettuce called. The chimera was galloping towards them, head lowered. The three girls scattered and it shot past them.

Ichigo snatched up her bell and ran recklessly forward to meet it as it turned. She heard the others calling from behind her, but their cries seemed lost in a haze of adrenaline, echoing as though from another world. She crouched, drawing breath for her attack. As the chimera charged her she caught sight of Kish, a black speck floating in the corner of her eye. Somehow he seemed highlighted, in focus while everything else was blurred. All her attention was on his as she shouted out:

'Ribbon Strawberry Surprise!'

A blaze of coloured light erupted from her weapon, engulfing the chimera. The others ran forward in time to see the parasite oozing out of its host, which gave a little shake, stood for a moment and then began to gambol around, its ordeal already half-forgotten. Mint hurried forward to catch it before it could run any further, but Ichigo wasn't paying attention. She craned her neck back, watching the pale figure in the sky.

She heard him make some remark, to quiet for her to hear. A flippant smirk was playing round his mouth. As she watched he flew backwards, flicking his hand back to wave at her, and then disappeared.

'Ichigo-san?'

Ichigo jumped and turned round. Lettuce was watching her, her blue eyes wide and anxious.

'Ichigo-san, what about your date?'

Ichigo stared at her in horror. Masaya! He had no idea where she was; he must be so worried. And she felt that she'd turned her back on him completely. She hadn't _done_ anything. Just tried to do her duty to the Earth. Just forgotten him completely and gazed at that infuriating alien as though he were the god of all her dreams...

'I think it's over, Lettuce-san,' she whispered miserably, bowing her head.

'Over, Ichigo-san? What happened? Did he say something to you?'

'No, but I just ran away from him when the Chimera came. He must be so angry now.'

'Ichigo –'

'Gomen nasai, Lettuce-san,' she said, pulling away from the hand that the other girl put out to comfort her. 'I have to go and apologise to Shirogane-san for missing so much work.'

There. It was said. She wished that she could crawl back into the safe cocoon that had been her love for Masaya, and seal it up behind her, but she couldn't. There was no point pretending. She didn't love him anymore.

**A/N: I think this will be the last we see of Masaya, because though I'm chopping it into chapters I'm trying to keep it within the complexity range of 'oneshot.' Sorry if you think I'm Masaya-bashing, I'm just trying to cut out unnecessary characters as this is meant to be a Kichigo-centric fic. **

**True**


	3. Cherry Blossom

**Cherry Blossom**

If it had been any other boy who was disregarding her in this way, she would have lost interest long ago.

She would have been put off by his lack of affection, if he hadn't been so_ fun_ to fight.

'Yo, koneko!' he would cry, swooping down all of a sudden with his arsenal of chimeras in tow. A full scale battle would begin, but while the other Mews took on the monsters, Ichigo would always search of some excuse to engage him one on one.

'You again!' he would remark as she plunged towards him, just missing him with her bell and then tripping over her own feet as he shimmied out of her way. 'You know, I would almost say you were tailing me, but that can't be right.'

'Someone has to be on hand to see that you don't get into mischief,' she would return, poise recovered to a degree. 'Look at this mess! Another evil action! Strawberry bell!'

'Ha. You caught me at it.' He spread his hands in admission and then plummeted toward her, swords poised and ready. 'Be afraid, kitten, be very afraid.'

She dodged, caught him by the shoulder and sent him spinning away from her, just as Minto called: 'Ichigo!'

She leapt over Kish's prone form as he scrabbled for his dropped swords, turning her weapon on the chimera which her friends had temporarily disabled. 'Ribbon Strawberry Check!'

Kish beat a hasty retreat into the skies as his chimera disintegrated. Ichigo felt a twang of pity at the veiled anxiety on his face.

'Protectors of justice, Tokyo Mew Mew!' she called. 'We'll be happy to play with you any time!'

'Heh.' Kish's arms were folded, one eyebrow raised. 'It looks like I underestimated you once again. Match conceded, kitten.'

And so she was hopeful. Sure, maybe he couldn't see it yet. They were supposed to be enemies after all. She knew she was being silly herself, falling for him so quickly; it was not only natural but sensible that he should see her only as an opponent. But if she gave him time, he must notice the attraction between them. How could he not, when it was so obvious, and so strong?

'Minna-san!'

Ichigo had been sweeping up in the cafe when Ryou's voice called her away from her thoughts. She looked up and saw him standing by the stairs to the basement, the others already gathered around him, waving her over emphatically.

'Hurry up, Ichigo!' he said bossily as she reached him, but she could hear a snap of worry beneath his usual overbearing tone. She ducked past him and down into the darkness of the basement.

Keiichiro was sitting with his back to them, hunched over a computer whose monitor showed many overlapping rings, flashing to mark co-ordinates on a grid. For once he had no courtesy to spare, giving only the briefest of nods when she greeted him. His fingers skimmed over the keys, bringing the screen up closer to highlight the crucial areas.

Ryou glanced at the screen, swore, and then turned to the Mews.

'Right, girls, we have a situation,' he said. 'Those early-flowering trees we observed a few weeks back – it seems the aliens have infected their pollen with some kind of toxin. If the buds are allowed to open it will spread quickly through the air around Tokyo. As far as killing off us humans goes, polluting the air is a masterstroke, but I don't see how increasing the environmental damage is going to help them in the long run –'

'Keep to the point, Ryou,' Keiichiro murmured, his eyes still locked on the screen.

'Sorry,' Ryou nodded brusquely. 'Well, it seems that the aliens have some kind of hormonal rig set up to make all the trees bloom very rapidly, starting at approximately...'

'19 hundred hours,' Keiichiro supplied.

'There are five trees. We need you girls to go out there and destroy one each. I know it goes against the grain, harming nature when we're supposed to be saving it, but consider it the lesser of two evils.'

'Hai,' Ichigo nodded, raising her pendant. The others followed suit.

'Oh, and girls?' Ryou added. 'Try to time this carefully, please. The destruction of one tree will cause the blossoms on all the others to open immediately, and we don't want any of those toxins escaping if we can help it. So attack at exactly 18 hundred hours fifty-five. Which gives you...' he glanced at his watch. '...twenty minutes to get down to the central park.' He looked up. 'Well, go!'

* * *

Ichigo ran through the park, her bell ready in her hand. The air was still and stifling; her sweat poured out and lay in a sheen over her skin, unable to evaporate into the waterlogged atmosphere. She licked her lips and tasted salt. She was getting used to fighting by now, but an assault like this, big enough to take out the whole of Tokyo, frightened her. Every flowering plant she passed seemed looming and evil. She swerved off the path, heading for the huge cherry tree that was her target.

She plunged into a thicket, and suddenly everything was dark. For a moment she was blind, and then her cat senses kicked in. She could see every leaf and twig around her, a thousand shades of grey. The forest was opening up around her, a spinning mix of sounds and smells, each one making perfect sense. And then she heard laughter.

_Kisshu._

Putting on a burst of speed she broke through the last of the trees, into the park where the cherry tree stood. And beneath the cherry tree, Kisshu.

'Get out of my way!' she cried.

'No,' he said softly. 'Tokyo is going to die today.'

Ichigo stilled, feeling a shiver run down her spine despite the heat. He raised a hand elegantly above his head and she felt her stomach clench. Fear, irritation and love danced inside her, almost indistinguishable.

'All you humans in Tokyo are doomed,' he said, 'but I'll kill you with my own hands, Ichigo.'

He vanished.

Her heart skipped a beat.

And then he was right in front of her.

She screamed at his sudden appearance and leapt backwards.

_That was close..._

'Too slow, kitten.'

They were back to back, and then he lashed out, hitting her with incredible strength. She rolled into the shade of the tree and scrambled to her feet, heart pounding.

'This is the end.'

He teleported once again, striking before she could react to his presence.

'Please, stop!' she cried, reeling backwards away from his blows. He didn't seem to register her plea at all. His attacks kept coming.

'Kisshu, stop this, listen to me!'

'Die now, human.'

And he flew at her once again, and she lashed out and struck him full in the face.

He lurched away from her and landed, skittering backwards for a few steps. He raised his hand to his cheek, where three red scratches stood out lividly against his pale skin. Ichigo stood gasping for breath, tensed unless he should teleport again. Raising her hand she saw blood under her nails.

'Amazing!' Kish exclaimed. 'That's just amazing!' He sounded transported, his golden eyes wide with the adrenaline of the fight. 'I'm moved, Ichigo! You hit me when I was being serious! You're greater than I thought.'

'Yes,' Ichigo blurted, lurching forwards. 'Kish, Kish, it doesn't have to be this way. Look at me, we're not aliens, either of us, we're people...'

He shook his head slightly, a bemused smile on his face.

'We don't have to fight...you could ask your leader...I'll ask Shirogane-san...let's go together, Kisshu!'

'What are you talking about, kitten?' he asked, his grin growing wider.

'You know what I mean! You saw it for yourself just now, you _know _I'm not just an enemy. Please, Kisshu...come with me...we can solve this all peacefully and then we...we can be together!'

'Together...?' Kish echoed. His face was inscrutable as he leaned towards her, brows slightly knitted.

'You know what I mean!' Ichigo stretched out her hands in supplication. 'What I'm feeling, I know you feel it too. You just need to realise it? Kisshu...' She took a step forward, a tender smile on her face as she held out her hand to him.

Kish was silent, frowning down at the ground. Then he looked up slowly.

'It's not your kitty time of the month, is it? Because there's no way you could be saying this if you weren't off your head.'

It felt like being hit by a bus. She gaped at him, staring into his golden eyes that held no hint of any of the emotion she felt. And after the shock came the fury. But before she could begin to scream, or beg, or attack him, a bright pinnacle of light came shooting up on the horizon. Others followed it, the colours of the Mews.

Of course. She had a mission. There was no more time.

Seizing her bell she charged forwards, straight at Kish, who stood between her and the tree. He must have thought she was going to attack him, because he flew out of her way without trying to stop her, and by the time he'd turned around she had almost reached the foot of the tree.

She looked up and saw that the blossoms were turning black, particles of choking dust beginning to stream from their stamens.

'Ichigo!' Kish cried, as he turned and saw her running into the centre of the deadly cloud, 'what are you doing? You're going to end up getting really killed at this rate.'

She ignored him, bracing her knee on the ground as she cried out:

'Mew Mew power Extention!'

Her pink light shot up, completing the light show in the sky, and, seeing it, the other Mews made their attacks.

'Ribbon Minto Echo!'

'Ribbon Zakuro Spear!'

'Ribbon Pudding Ring Inferno!'

'Ribbon Lettuce Rush!'

'Ribbon Strawberry Surprise!'

Ichigo crouched on all fours, panting for breath as her released attack purged the tree over her head. Kish's first words twisted her stomach like red-hot tongs, his second words baffled her. _You'll end up getting really killed at this rate...' _What was that supposed to mean?

She was exhausted. Destroying the toxins had taken everything she had to give. She didn't want to think about Kish, or hike back to the cafe, or even get up from where she knelt. She just wanted to roll over and go to sleep.

Kish stood a little way off, gazing musingly at the crumpled pink figure beneath the tree. He raised a hand to brush thoughtfully across the stinging cuts on his cheek, and then, without a word, he teleported.

**A/N: Hmmm, no more Masaya, not many other characters in fact. Sorry; I want to get this done before Christmas.**


	4. Come With Me

'**Come With Me'**

**Disclaimer: **I suppose it's about time I did another one of these. I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew; in fact, most of these scenes are just direct adaptations of the anime.

**A/N: OK, I'm whizzing through fairly fast here. One would have thought that, after Kish's words in the previous chapter, Ichigo wouldn't be feeling as hopeful as she is in this chapter, but you've got to realise that a fair bit of time has passed here, time which I just haven't bothered to write about, during which Kish has become a little more enlightened. You will see precisely how much time in a moment. So Ichigo isn't just being a total airhead who lets Kish's remarks bounce off her, though that's certainly part of it. Is it coming across that she annoys me? **

**And did this A/N make **_**any**_** sense?**

**Onwards!**

Frustration.

Every time they fought, he seemed so unchanged. Joking, bantering, treating her almost as a playmate rather than an opponent, but beneath the facade still totally bent on his goal. And that was her destruction.

He had been moved. He'd said so himself. So _why_ wouldn't he understand, see the real love she felt for him, and realise that she was a creature with feeling, just as much as he was?

She was certain that the new alien, Pai, was a bad influence on him.

Tart, on the other hand, seemed to be getting on very well with Mew Pudding, despite his continual insistences that he loathed the lot of them. Why couldn't Kish take his lead from him?

He didn't think it was possible for them to be together. He'd seemed disgusted at the very idea, implied that she must be either crazy or desperate to even consider it.

_Oh Kisshu, _she thought, _we're so similar. Just a tiny leap of faith, that's all it would take. Why can't you see it? How can I _make _you see it?_

It would have been easier if she could have just given up and forgotten about it, but his manner towards her was so encouraging. It grew more encouraging too, by tiny fractions, but still, it grew. She thought he ceased to see her as a cold adversary, and thought of her more as an equal, one of two beings fighting for similar causes. Nobody could really avoid seeing how similar their races were, she thought, if they met on such regular basis – well, Pai maybe, but nobody _rational_. Lettuce and Zakuro had realised it, Pudding...heck, Pudding was _living _it, practically.

The trouble was that whenever they met, they fought, and that was bound to reinforce his image of her as a cold-hearted adversary. She would have to go looking for him, arrange a meeting on her own terms. Without the other Mews around or his alien friends listening in, with nothing threatening him, she was sure she could make him listen. _You'll end up getting really killed at this rate..._and all those times when, on finding that something he'd thought was Mew Aqua wasn't Mew Aqua at all, he'd chosen to abandon the fight, rather than ploughing on grimly with trying to kill her. Yes, he had certainly changed. And she was determined to show him how much.

* * *

'Kisshu?'

'Mmmyes, Pai?' Kish drawled, floating himself backwards towards the older alien. His hands had been clasped behind his head; now he stretched luxuriously, arching his back and yawning, a hint of mischief playing around his mouth

'You seem quite at ease,' Pai remarked disapprovingly. Kish caught Tart's eye across the base and, back turned safely on their comrade, rolled his eyes. Then he crossed them and stuck his tongue out.

'Kisshu! Are you listening to me?'

Kish tipped his head backwards until he was looking upside down at Pai. The alien was stood by his computer, hands poised over the keys, glaring at him suspiciously. Kish blinked innocently back.

'You seem to be at something of a loose end. Well, you're in luck. I have a job for you.' Pai flicked his hand, bringing up a flashing screen on the computer. 'My scanners are picking up the signal of a lone Mew, transformed, wandering about in a residential area of Tokyo far from their base. I want you to go and find out what she's after. It could be something of importance to us. If not, it will be a good chance to remove one of them.' There was a pause. 'Well?'

Kish gave a limp salute. 'I'm on it, boss.'

'Lose the attitude,' Pai said shortly. 'Now hurry up. Go.'

Kish rolled his eyes, turned on his heel and teleported.

Down on Earth the sun struck so brightly off the clean pavements of the suburb that it brought on an instant headache. He squinted and shaded his eyes, then gave up on that and listened instead. While he listened, he thought. Thinking was something he'd been trying to avoid doing too much of recently, but when Pai sent him off to play a waiting game like this he couldn't really avoid it. Stupid Pai.

Which Mew would it be? The blue one or the purple one, he hoped. Wait, not the wolf, she would probably wipe the floor with him. While Kish was outwardly brazen and overconfident, his own estimation of himself was rather more realistic. So the blue one, then. Because, realistically, she was the only one he could really see himself killing anymore.

The yellow Mew. When had it first entered his head that it might be wrong to kill an Earth child, the same way it would to kill an infant Cyniclon? Oddly enough, it was probably a result of observing the porpoise rather than the monkey, but the golden-haired girl had been the first one he'd begun to treat with compassion in the field, probably because of her age. As for the green Mew herself – well, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain – a brain not clogged up with calculations, that was – that she would be merciful to anyone who she fought, even if they happened to be hell-bent on destroying her. And it was this realisation that had caused him so much trouble these last few months. When he had first set out on this mission, he had been intending to clear the Earth of spiteful vermin. But clearly the humans weren't spiteful vermin at all, so if he was going to continue the fight, it would have to be done on different terms. And that was what he was trying to make his mind up on now. Could he continue to fight the Mews, accepting them as equals? And if not, could he take the consequences to his people?

Kish sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The monkey Mew was too young to be slaughtered in cold blood, the porpoise Mew was too gentle, and as for Ichigo –

A shoe scraped on pavement, and he whipped around, summoning his swords.

'Koneko-san,' he greeted, hoping his shock didn't show in his voice. 'You startled me there.'

'Hey, Kish,' she replied, face splitting into an answering smile. She was poised to move, but otherwise didn't look all that keen to start fighting. 'I guess you're scanners must have picked me up, huh?'

'How do you know we have scanners?' he demanded, raising his swords defensively.

Ichigo laughed. 'Who wouldn't?' she asked. 'We have them all over the city. Doesn't matter if I tell you that, you won't find them. And I don't know where yours are either, before you ask. Like I said, it was just a guess.'

Kish opened his mouth to reply, but stopped himself. He didn't want to get sucked into a conversation with her. It happened all too easily, and lead to a whole host of things that he didn't want to think about. So he closed his face and demanded:

'Why are you here? Looking for some Mew Aqua?'

'Nuh-uh.'

'Maybe you're worried that we'll plant another Chimera cocoon?'

'Guess again.'

Kish ground his teeth. 'Look, I don't have time to play games with you. If you want to fight, fight, if you're just wandering around because you're bored, or because you hit your head and can't remember the way home, tell me so that I can go home.' _That _hadn't been part of the deal. Kill her, Pai had said, but it would be far easier to make some excuse. Kish wished that things could be different, so that he could get away from this fight altogether. Because he didn't think there was any answer otherwise.

'I'm afraid you can't leave just yet, Kish,' Ichigo said. 'There are things going on here that concern you.'

'It's a trap!' Kish crossed his blades and snapped into attack stance, his eyes flickering for danger. Of course; one transformed Mew wandering around, just waiting for a sensor to pick them up – the perfect bait to draw them out.

Ichigo laughed.

'That was your closest guess,' she said, 'but you're wrong again. I'm here alone.'

Kish watched her warily over his crossed blades.

'I wanted to talk to you, Kisshu.'

'Talk to me?' He raised one eyebrow. 'Why?'

Ichigo didn't answer. Instead she straightened slowly, all the laughter leaving her face, to be replaced by utter seriousness.

'Kitten?' he prompted. 'What do you want?'

'I came to pick you up.' The words were spoken softly, floating across the still air to be caught by his sensitive ears. As he watched she reached into the blue satchel on her hip and produced two slips of stiff, shiny paper, printed all over with letters and numbers. 'These are plane tickets. I bought them as an alibi, but we don't have to use them. My parents think I'm going to England. But it doesn't have to be there.'

'What do you mean?' Kish took a step backwards, his eyes fixed on her face.

'Kisshu, you don't want to fight, I know it!' Suddenly there was fire in her eyes. He couldn't decide whether she looked transported or crazy. Why not both. 'You don't want to fight any of us! I'm tired of this, I just want to get away. Just me and you. I know you told me no once, but we know more about one another now. Kish, you can teleport! We could go anywhere, and they'd never find us!' She took a step forward, smiling softly now as she reached tentatively for his hand. He ripped it away from her, taking a step backwards.

'What are you saying?'

'I know you don't want to abandon your people Kish. Neither do I. It's OK; we don't have to run, just as long as we can be together. We can go to Shirogane-san right now if you like, and tell him that we want a truce instead. Surely if both of us are saying it, he'll listen.' She was very close now, looking up into his face. 'You understand, don't you? You'll come with me, right?'

For a moment, he was tempted. Not by her, but by her promise. A promise of peace. But it could be a trick. It could take too long, or never work out at all. Deep Blue...he would never agree. He backed up again, vanishing his swords now, his instincts turning from fight to flight.

'I don't know what you mean!' he said. She shook her head wordlessly, reaching for his hands again. Her touch panicked him. 'Stay away from me! I don't have time to listen to this!'

He broke away from her and ran, shaking his head to try and banish the host of confused thoughts that she had sparked off in his mind. Fears, doubts, treacherous desires that he'd been trying to ignore ever since the mission began, all bubbling up to the surface. He rounded a corner and then realised that he hadn't managed to shake her off yet. There was a scrabbling sound as she vaulted over the wall, cat reflexes propelling her to a graceful landing directly in his path. He flinched backwards as she stood, and for the first time felt a flicker of fear – real fear, bodily fear – at the expression on her face.

'I've said this much and you still don't understand?' she cried. 'I've thought it all through; these are our only options. Either the fighting has to stop...or we have to go to a place where there is no fighting. I could find one. Somewhere where nobody else lives, where neither of our sides would come...and then you could take us there.'

'And why would I want to do that? Why would I betray my people to come with you?'

' "Why?" ' Ichigo echoed softly. '_Why_? How much longer are you going to keep lying to yourself? You care for me, I can see it! Don't try to tell my I'm kidding myself, because I know I'm not! Come on, Kisshu-kun. Come with me...'

He lunged forwards, flying up over her head, but she caught his wrist and clung on with all her Mew strength. Her trainers scuffed against the pavement as she skidded with him, dragging him to a halt.

'Let go already, Ichigo!' he shouted, twisting in the air. 'Cut it out! Let go!'

'Listen!' she yelled back, her head braced between her arms as she struggled to hold on. 'Just listen to what I'm saying, damn it! Stop – pretending –' She dragged him back down towards her, getting an arm around his shoulders to hold him still. 'I _love_ you, Kisshu...' She pressed forward, pulling him in for a kiss.

'NO!' Kish seized both her arms and twisted, flinging her away. She hit the ground with an 'oof!' as the breath was driven out of her and lay gasping, angry tears forming in her eyes.

'Kisshu!' she cried, but he was already running, leaping into the air and shooting out of sight as fast as he could. He panted with the memory of the almost-kiss, half disgusted, half-longing, trying desperately to block it from his mind. He knew he shouldn't be running, he should be fighting, but it had been only desperation that had persuaded him to use his full strength against her. He didn't want to harm her...

HE DIDN'T WANT TO KISS HER!

Flying so fast was tiring. He touched down in the forecourt of an abandoned warehouse and dropped into a crouch to catch his breath. His arm was aching from where he'd tried to wrench it out of her grasp. He shook his head, blinking sweat out of his eyes. The sunlight glancing upwards blinded him; the concrete was white-hot beneath his hands.

Footsteps.

'How did you know I would be here?' he demanded. He was frightened now, with a cold, other-worldly fear.

'Lucky guess.' Ichigo was out of breath as well, head down, shoulders hunched. 'Why are you running from me, Kisshu? What are you afraid of?'

Kish straightened, trying to scrape up some cool. 'Well, you can be pretty scary, you know. For a pretty kitten.'

Her face darkened. 'Maybe I was wrong,' she said. 'Maybe you do still think I'm a worthless human.' She began to walk forwards, not towards him but around, her face turned away, almost as though she had decided to take a stroll around the perimeter of the forecourt. There was a faint jingle. Her strawberry bell had appeared in her hand.

'Well I'll _make _you respect me!' she shrieked, and lunged forward.

Kish dodged as she struck at him and summoned his dragon swords. As she spun on her heel and came at him again he flew towards her, both points aiming for her heart. She high-jumped out of his way and performed one of her amazing acrobatics, springing off one hand and back onto her feet.

'It doesn't have to be this way!' she appealed. 'You can still change your mind –'

'Why would I betray my people for you?' he shouted, hurling one sword like a javelin towards her. That was the advantage of having two. She slipped aside as it struck the ground beside her foot, and he saw a little line of red well up on her bare leg.

'We could help them if you'd only listen!' She rushed at him again, but her foot caught on a piece of timber and she stumbled forward.

He caught her elbow, skittering backwards as her weight fell on him.

'Whoopsy-daisy, kitten. Ya know, I almost thought my number was up just the –'

'Stop!' she shrieked. 'Stop _TOYING WITH ME_! Ribbon Strawberry Surprise!'

The attack hit him at point-blank range, full of the searing energy that was designed specifically to kill his kind. It sent him hurtling backwards into the wall. He was too stunned to feel the pain of the impact, but he could hear, as though amplified, the sound of a thousand cracks spreading through the brickwork.

Ichigo stood where she was, shocked by the strength of her own attack. She had never struck with such sheer abandon before. Anything to make him listen, to make him take her seriously at last. But it looked like it was going to do more than that, because the wall was crumbling.

'Kisshu!' she screamed, and plunged forward, mindless of the falling rubble. 'Mew mew power EXTENSTION!'

She couldn't see a thing. Powdered mortar flew into her eyes the instant she opened them, blinding her. The only sound was the clatter of brick on brick. Something struck her on the shoulder, but then she felt strands of Kish's feathery hair and wrapped her arms around his head, pulling him against her as the rubble cascaded down.

It sounded as though half the warehouse was collapsing around them. Ichigo clasped Kish with one hand and held her bell above them with the other. In order to maintain her shield she had to keep it small. The bricks fell so close to her, and strained her power so much, that she could hardly tell whether they were bouncing off her shield or hitting her. But if they were hitting her, they must be hitting Kish. She gritted her teeth and hunched over, protecting him with her body as the masonry clattered down.

Finally the chaos started to ease. She raised her head and her shield flickered off. The air was full of grey dust, which began to settle softly in her hair. She barely heeded it. Her eyes were on Kish. He was perfectly still, but as she loosened her protective embrace he opened his eyes and coughed.

'Ichigo...'

'Kisshu, I –' Ichigo shook her head. There was nothing to say. She just brushed a lock of his hair away from his face, gazing steadily into his eyes. His hair and skin were grey with dust, but they were as brightly golden as ever. She found that her vision was blurring with tears, and squeezed her eyes shut, fighting for control.

'Ichigo,' he whispered again, cupping her face in his hands. She felt his long nails pricking at her skin. 'Shhh. Don't cry, koneko-chan...'

Ichigo gave a little hiccup, fighting for breath. She managed a small smile, laying her hands on his cheeks in return. She felt peaceful at last, still, as he gazed at her with is barriers down, listening at last. 'Come with me, Kisshu-kun?' she asked one last time.

'No.'

Her eyes filled with fresh tears. 'Why not? Why? I _love_ you –'

'I know, Ichigo. But...but there's someone else.'

'Nani?' Ichigo stared. It felt as though the world had been ripped from under her feet.

'There was someone else,' Kish repeated more loudly, 'back on my home planet, and I left her to come here and I – I love her!'

'But –' Ichigo blurted. She clamped her mouth shut, trembling.

'But what?'

'But _she's not here!_' she burst out, seizing the front of his shirt. '_She's not here!_'

Suddenly Kish flung her away from him with all his might. 'What are you saying?' he screamed. 'Are you saying I should just...just betray her and go with you instead? I won't do that, I – I don't want –' Suddenly he whirled and slammed his fist into what remained of the wall, doubling over at the pain. He cursed sharply in his own language, clutching his stinging wrist. '_Damnit!_ I always thought I was stronger than _this!_' He flung a hand out in a sweeping gesture. It wasn't clear what he was trying to indicate. Her and him? The ruined warehouse? He shook his head and then slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. 'Look, it's hard, but that doesn't mean...I can dothis. I _love_ her. Ichigo, I...I can't go with you.'

'R-right.' Ichigo scrambled to her feet, trying to control her shaking voice. 'I...then I guess I'll just...' Tears blurred her vision, and she raised a hand to brush them away. A short laugh escaped her lips, and she shook her head slowly. 'I understand, Kisshu-kun,' she whispered, and I'll go now.' Her trembling was easing, a deep stillness replacing it. 'I guess...I just went round and round and got nowhere. Uncool, huh?' She turned away, hair swinging forward to hide her tears.

'Hey –' Kish called, taking a half-step forward. She glanced back and he froze, one hand stretched out towards her. For a moment they both paused, and then his body slowly relaxed.

'_Ichigo, bye bye.'_

Ichigo watched, her face glazed with tears, as his form rippled and vanished before her eyes.

**A/N: There were some good bunnies here, but I think they've been lost beneath a deluge of trying to express myself...tell me if I've managed to imply everything I wanted to imply.**

**Animegurl: **Many thanks!


	5. Truth

**A/N: GypsyxSilent, I must thank you so many times for your unfailing patience with my pathetic level of updating, and also once again for your wining competition entry.**

**I'm disregarding the whole Masaya=Deep Blue thing, btw. It would gum up the story at this point, though actually I keep finding moments where it would have been useful. But the fact is that I HAVE to get this story out now, and I don't have time to think of a complicated way to work it out.**

**BTW, listen to Frank Sinatra's rendition of 'New York.' It's pretty cool stuff. **

He could never love her.

Despite what the Mews and Cyniclons had learned about one another, he still believed that it was impossible for two of them to be together. Her love for him was hopeless, but she had allowed it to consume her nonetheless. And now, gazing at the dark figure that raised itself, wreathed in smoke, in the centre of the courtyard, Ichigo knew that she had taken her eye off the ball.

All the fights that they had won so easily...and they had let this happen.

'I am known as Deep Blue. I will be the ruler of this planet.'

The voice was soft, cold, and sent shudders down her spine. She watched, frozen in shock, as Pai bowed onto one knee before the towering alien, while Kish and Tart stared, dumbfounded.

'It can't be,' she thought she heard the young alien mutter. 'It's too soon...'

_Kisshu..._

'Deep Blue,' Zakuro gasped behind her, her cool finally shaken. Voice rough with shock, and maybe something deeper. 'You are our enemy! You are the one who ordered these things, who ordered these three to try and destroy our lives, again and again...'

_Yes,_ Ichigo realised. Her thoughts seemed to be moving in slow motion, drawn-out and echoey. _He is the one...and yet...he is the saviour of Kisshu's people also..._

'I will destroy you,' Deep Blue said softly.

'Hey,' Ichigo blurted. 'Stop.'

All eyes turned to her in shock, save for Deep Blue's. They remained locked ahead, focussed on her but blank, totally blank. She swallowed, trying to moisten her lips, and spoke again.

'It...it doesn't have to be this way...we're not your enemies...'

'Ichigo-san?' Lettuce said.

'We don't have to fight.' She took a shaky step forward. Her eyes focussed over Deep Blue's shoulder, seeking Kish's. He met her gaze with a look that was grim, but not altogether unfriendly. His look puzzled her; it was almost camaraderie. Almost as though they were about to take the same side in a fight, though why he should be anything less than joyful, now that his saviour had come...

_His saviour._ That was why she spoke now, spoke with such fervour. Because, though she couldn't simply surrender the planet, she didn't think she could bring herself to defeat Kish, finally and forever. He – and his people – deserved better than what they had. So now it was a truce or nothing. She looked back to Deep Blue, taking another step forward.

'I'm glad you're here now.'

Under his expressionless stare she was losing momentum, her speech drying up, but she forced herself to keep going. 'Tokyo Mew Mew have to defend the Earth, but that doesn't necessarily mean we have to fight you. We...we don't hate...your friends over there...we'll be happy to help you in any way we can.' She was standing directly in front of him now, and slowly, trying not to shake, she reached out a hand. 'Please?'

His eyes bent slowly down, fixing her with a gaze that was brilliantly blue and as merciless as some great, intelligent reptile. His white hand flashed up, and he struck her across the face with a force that threw her off her feet.

For a moment there was no pain, only impact. She was acutely aware of the rough texture of the cobbled pavement against her cheek, and of a tiny ant making its scrabbling way between them. _My god,_ she thought, _that ant might not be alive when he gets though with the planet...it's whole ecosystem could be destroyed...all life, to make way for whatever the aliens have got planned..._

'_Mew Ichigo!'_

She jumped onto her hands and knees as the heavy sword with its dull red stone came smashing down between Deep Blue's feet. The paving stones seemed to peel away from the point of impact, tearing up their concrete foundations and spraying backwards in a howling rush of wind. The sheer force of the spectacle seemed to root her to the spot, and for a moment she was nothing but a frightened girl, cowering and crying in the path of the explosion. But then she felt arms about her.

'Mew Mew Power EXTENTION!'

Glowing light bathed her, and she felt relief. They were in trouble, but not beaten. The warm, strengthening power of the Mews was still there to set against this cold, alien onslaught. She pushed herself to her feet, raising her Strawberry Bell to join its energy with her friends' as they surged forward across the crater Deep Blue had created in the centre of the courtyard, meeting the blast of the sword head on. She felt a moment of bone-shattering impact, and then the grey ribbon of energy snapped. She saw Deep Blue's hair whipping wildly as his sword arm was thrown upwards, and then the five of them landed lightly, facing him across the crater.

'We did it, na no da!' Pudding cried, punching the air.

Then Deep Blue smiled. The valiant ring of Pudding's voice seemed killed dead on the spot by that tiny twitch of muscles, and Ichigo's blood ran cold. Suddenly she was more afraid than she'd ever been in her life.

'I guess I got too fired up fighting weaklings.' He gave a short chuckle, cruel and empty. His eyes flicked upwards, and Ichigo saw a dark speck growing in the very centre of the sky. It seemed to grow rapidly, and then she realised that it was plummeting, hurtling towards them at the speed of sound. Closer and closer, until it seemed to her that they must all be crushed beneath it. Deep Blue stared upward with a crazed, ecstatic smile.

Suddenly the object halted. Energy vanished, lost into nothing, as she saw that it was a huge, diamond-shaped building, ringed about with an orbiting circle of cube-like structures. The whole structure floated implausibly above them, solid as rock.

'Pai.' Deep Blue spoke again, his voice switching from the almost child-like tones of a moment ago to brisk and soldierly.

'Yes, Deep Blue-sama.' Pai dropped to his knees, head bowed as he awaited his orders. It seemed somehow wrong to see the calculating, intelligent Pai so servile, so pliable in the hands of his master, and Ichigo shuddered once more.

'I leave the rest to you,' Deep Blue said. 'Kisshu, come with me.'

In the numbness of shock her eyes registered tiny, irrelevant things. The cantankerous glint in Kish's burnished golden eyes, the sweep of Deep Blue's hair as he turned, the flicker of hurt or jealously in Pai's eyes as he watched the two go, tete-a-tete, while he was left to fight out the last battle as the only reward for his loyalty. Then Deep Blue and Kish teleported, and she snapped out of her paralysis.

'Guys! We have to get inside that base!'

* * *

Kish followed Deep Blue down the long corridor, their footsteps echoing around them. He was hurrying to keep up with the other's long stride, but Deep Blue neither hesitated nor turned. It would have been more practical for them to have teleported straight to whatever room they were heading for, and trotting along in his master's wake Kish had the distinct impression that he was being made to feel uncomfortable.

Kish wasn't a person who took kindly to being made uncomfortable, or bossed around, or controlled in any way. He ground his fangs quietly but rebelliously, hunching his head into his shoulders in a posture he had seen many human teenagers exhibit. At last they they entered the central chamber. There he was forced to unslouch for a moment as he leaned back his head to look up, amazed by the sheer scope of the building.

This room alone was the size of a cathedral, and as they had walked through the building he had gained the impression that any number of chambers and corridors interwove around it. The walls were shaped so that they seemed to spring actively to the floor, towering up and sloping gradually together. Everything was a sleek, semi-translucent blue, and he couldn't see any joins. It was as though the entire building had been cut out of a single chunk of artificial crystal.

Red carpets and hangings – oddly and pretentiously out of place – relieved the featureless walls. They muffled Deep Blue's steps as he paced slowly over to a window and looked out.

'Kisshu,' he said softly. His voice was deeper now, more real and solid than the ethereal tone of his spirit, but it still held a trace of that almost childish sound. Kish felt an involuntary shudder. There was a kind of cold innocence in that voice, a complete ignorance of good and evil that could allow a being to commit the most terrible atrocities without feeling them at all...but there was experience too, an old, twisted sadism glittering in those blue eyes –

Kish shook himself. What was he thinking of? Deep Blue was their saviour...

'Kisshu,' the voice chimed again. 'I must confess that I am not entirely satisfied.'

For so long, Pai had insisted that they speak Japanese everywhere, so that they might become fluent, the better to spy on the humans. Now Kish found that it took his brain a moment to feel its way back into the patterns of his native language.

'Is it anything I can rectify at once, Deep Blue-sama?' He knew he sounded sullen, but what was he to do about that. 'Simply give me direction; I am eager for your approval,' he added, trying to sound a little more polite.

Deep Blue half-turned towards him, bleak light from the window falling on his face. 'The human girl, Kisshu. Mew Ichigo.'

'What about her?' he asked brusquely.

'Her friends are full of hate and fear, but she...' Deep Blue spoke almost dreamily, his voice lilting. 'She dares to approach me...she asks for a truce. What do you make of that, Kisshu?'

The endless repetition of his name was beginning to annoy him. 'She seems to me like a slightly less stubborn human than the others,' he said, 'who was making a last-ditch attempt to save her kind from total defeat. I don't see that there is anything so –'

'That will do,' Deep Blue cut in. 'You don't think she had a more...personal reason?'

'I don't see what the problem is.' Kish's patience had run out. He was sick of this game of cat-and-mouse. 'I resisted her advances, didn't I?'

'Kisshu.' Deep Blue turned, facing him full on at last. He was shaking his head slowly, a faint smile on his lips. 'I have no use for soldiers who _resist_ advances.'

Before the words had died on his lips Kish was hurling himself to the floor, but even so the attack missed him by barely an inch. He rolled to a stop, springing to his knees in a mockery of his old subservient posture. Behind him he felt the heat and heard the cracking sound as the energy bolt blasted a hole into the opposite wall. He could smell burning hair.

'You never wanted to save us, did you?' he cried, pointing wildly. He could feel his heart punching a cocktail of adrenaline through his veins, turning the world crisp and searing. 'All this...it was never for us! It was all for _you!_'

'Clever boy.' Deep Blue was walking slowly towards him, swinging his sword in a wide, lazy arc as he moved. 'No, I am not interested in Cyniclons who join the fight for the sake of their sick friends or their starving families. I have no time for boys who nobly resist their feelings of attraction for loyalty's sake. I may have had to settle for your mess of warring passions in the first onslaught, but that time is past now. I can dispose of you.

The sword came swinging down, and Kish shot _up_, up into the high vault until Deep Blue dwindled to a tiny figure below. But high as he was, he couldn't relax. The room might be huge, but he felt that the whole sky wouldn't be wide enough to escape into, now that Deep Blue had his sights on him.

'This is what poor, obedient Pai never realised,' the other remarked, as though perfectly unconcerned that his prey had taken flight. 'I fancy that even he might have had a thing or two to say about it if he had. But all the same, he is just the sort I need. It is men like him who will build our new world!'

Kish thought of Pai and Tart below, doubtless fighting for their lives against the Mews...and fighting for what? An eternity as slaves beneath this creature. He shot like an arrow towards the door, and Deep Blue let fly at him again.

This time he only realised his danger when he felt the wind of it on the back of his neck. With no time to control his dodge he simply dived, crashing headlong into the floor and rolling to a stop. He lay where he was, winded and gasping for breath, the easiest target in the world.

He caught a flash of something red out of the corner of his eye, glinting on the floor where he'd hit, more reflective than the dull red carpets. At the same time hot droplets trickled over his top lip. Blood. He propped himself painfully on one elbow as Deep Blue bent, wiping his fingers across the smear on the floor and holding them beneath his nostrils.

'What a perverse instrument the body is,' he commented. 'So hysterical. I don't even have to touch you. I can attack, missing a little each time, and you will kill yourself running.'

For a moment he seemed completely static, examining the blood on his fingertips. Then his sword was blazing again.

This time, whether from exhaustion or the effect of Deep Blue's words, or simply because he had grown tired of the game, Kish didn't dodge. The force of the attack threw him against the wall, and he felt the glassy surface crunch beneath him. For a moment he felt nothing, his senses reeling from the impact. Then the pain hit him.

'You miserable scum.' Pale fingers closed his throat in a crushing grip. 'Did you think I wouldn't notice the way you looked at her in the courtyard?' Deep Blue wrenched him upright, twisted his arm savagely and flung him down once more. 'Did you imagine that I'd missed you wavering, growing more uncertain with every day?' His voice was rising to a shriek. 'You romantic, melodramatic fool! I heard the rebellion in your voice from the very first time I spoke to you!'

'Please!' Kish choked. 'I didn't –'

'It does not matter what you did or did not do.' The voice was quiet and impassive now. The sword rose for the execution 'I know you better than you know yourself. Never forget it.'

A wild shriek erupted from somewhere to his right, and a vivid blur came barrelling into his field of vision, crashing headlong into Deep Blue. The alien was knocked to his knees, his sword clanging on the floor. The figure who had run at him tumbled into a handspring and landed perfectly on her feet, planting herself between him and Kish.

Ichigo.

Despite her slight figure and that ridiculous costume, she still managed to display all the aggression of a Bengal tiger defending its cub. Her teeth were bared, her strawberry bell clenched in her gloved hands, her whole body language spoiling for the fight. Like a kitten that thinks it's a lioness. He tried to speak, to raise a hand in warning, because he realised now what Deep Blue had seen, seen but never understood. He did care for Ichigo, he could no longer deny it for the sake of convenience. She was gutsy and petulant and ridiculously brave, all qualities he could admire. And now those qualities were most likely about to get her killed, because, in a fit of pig-headed passion which was all too familiar to him, she had come running to his rescue. Despite everything he'd said.

Deep Blue was still kneeling on the floor, clutching his arm. His expression was livid, but he looked oddly broken crouching there. Kish knew how he felt. The Mews might only be weak human girls in comparison to him, but their power burned all the same. It was the perfect weapon to use against his kind.

'What do you think you are doing, harming your own allies like this?' Ichigo was shouting, true to form. 'For hurting him, I won't forgive you! Ribbon strawberry –'

Her words cut off in a squeal as a bolt of energy from Deep Blue's fingers knocked her off her feet. He lunged forward with his sword raised, but before he could deliver the blow Kish interposed himself between them, blocking the sword with both his own. He sprang and somersaulted over Deep Blue's head, levering himself up on their locked swords and landing lightly behind him. On his other side Ichigo was scrambling to her feet, shocked but unhurt.

Poised for fight or flight, Kish took stock of his body. There wasn't a muscle in him that wasn't bruised and aching, and he could feel a tracery of cuts and scratches across his back and shoulders from slamming into the glass wall, but nothing seemed to be broken, at least. All the same, he didn't fancy their chances. He wouldn't have to die alone, though. That was some comfort.

He and Ichigo circled slowly, Deep Blue at their centre. His eyes flicked between them for a moment, and then he wheeled on Ichigo with snake-like speed once more. Like lightning Kish teleported, scooping her into his arms and flying with her across the room. They landed – crashed, really – behind a chunk of rubble as Deep Blue's attack lit up the hall with glaring brilliancy. A thousand flares of light reflected in the crystalline walls, burning into his eyes, blinding him. Chunks of masonry thudded all around them. Then came silence, in which they could hear, with agonising clarity, the swish of Deep Blue's cloak as he began to pace towards them.

'Kisshu...' Ichigo breathed. Her fierce bravery was all gone now; she was shaking, terrified.

'I tried to tell you.' She was his last ally, his lifeline to good and bravery in the face of Deep Blue's icy power, and he clung to her tightly. 'You should have hated me while you had the chance.'

'Come out, little children,' Deep Blue called, his voice like fingernails down a blackboard. 'There's no use in hiding...'

Kish made a grimace at the lack of originality, risking the shortest of glances out from behind the boulder.

'Ichigo,' he hissed, 'we need to distract him...if one of us can just engage him for a few moments, the other can get a blow in from behind –'

Ichigo nodded once and then buried her face in his chest with a squeal as another blast of energy hit the pile of rubble in front of them. Kish hid his face in her hair, his nails biting into her back, and when he looked up the heap was considerably smaller than it had been.

'Good luck, then,' he whispered quickly, pushing her forwards.

'Huh?' Ichigo turned, and for one moment she was the fierce, brave fighter she had always been, no trace of fear in her rosy eyes. 'Why me?!'

'Cos I can teleport, and you can burn him with your strawberry thingumy. Good luck.' He pecked her swiftly on the cheek, propelled her forwards and teleported.

Ichigo staggered into the open, her mind reeling. She could barely focus on Deep Blue as his face broke into a smile of cruel pleasure at her appearance. After a moment, however, a fog seemed to clear in her mind, and her stomach clenched with fear.

Something moved, catching her eye. Kish. She could make him out at the far side of the chamber, flitting along, half-visible. The sight of him gave her strength, but it also distracted her, and by the time she had pulled herself together enough to think about attacking, it was too late. All she could do was raise her bell above her head, surrounding herself in a flimsy soap bubble of protective light as Deep Blue's attack came shooting at her.

Teeth gritted, head down, she maintained her shield, but her feet were slipping backwards on the polished floor. She felt tired, bone tired, her arms trembling with fatigue. She gave a cry, and both their energies vanished, and she was exhausted, and he was not.

His long white fingers closed around her throat, and he hoisted her into the air. He was winning, completely in control, and yet he still grimaced as though she burned him. And maybe she did. All she could see was shimmering red, her instincts rising in her, stronger and hotter than they had ever done before, blotting out fear and pain. She gave another scream, this one of pure fury, and lashed out with all her limbs. At first they flailed in empty air, but then her hand connected with his face.

He lowered her slightly, touching his cheek in surprise. Three scrapes marred his skin, flesh-red but dry and bloodless. She could feel her nails tingling where the force of the blow had wrenched them backwards. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Deep Blue threw back his head and laughed. The sound started out cruel, rose, became high and inhuman, until she was writhing in her efforts to get away from it, her sensitive cat ears flat against her scalp. And Deep Blue laughed on. The arm that held her did not tremble. His fingers tightened as he laughed, constricting her throat, and black and purple spots began to shimmer in front of her eyes, her struggles weakened, sounds turned echoey...and still Deep Blue laughed...

Then the sound cut off sharply as a bright blade emerged through his chest. He and Ichigo both stared down at it, uncomprehending, as it finished its thrust and retreated once more. Then Deep Blue dropped Ichigo and whirled around to face Kish, who stood with his dragon swords raised, flashing brightly and smeared with only a little blood.

Deep Blue lunged, and Kish charged straight to meet him, stabbing both swords forward and up to the hilt in his old master's body. Deep Blue gave a high shriek and crumpled forward, and Kish shouted over his shoulder:

'Now, Ichigo!'

'Ribbon Strawberry Surprise!' she screamed.

Kish flung himself out of the way as the attack engulfed Deep Blue, incandescent sparks hungrily tearing him apart. Ichigo was on the ground, flung backwards by the force of her own attack, staring wide-eyed at the writhing silhouette. It crumpled in on itself, smaller, darker, its final scream fading, and then...nothing.

The light faded, and there was a clink as something dropped to the floor.

They stared at each other across the spot where Deep Blue had stood, both battered, bruised and exhausted. Ichigo thought she would lie down and sleep right then and there, but Kish was always the soldier. He dragged himself to the point where Deep Blue had vanished and picked up the thing that had clinked. It was a bigish chunk of crystal, very like the stuff the palace was carved out of, but somehow warmer, less cruel. It felt as though the whole building had been trying to mimic it, and had gone horribly wrong, but this...this was right. Ichigo thought that she felt less tired just looking at it.

'Mew Aqua,' Kish said.

Their eyes met, both of them wondering whether they were supposed to leap up and start fighting each other for it. Then Ichigo said:

'Keep it.'

'Huh?'

She clambered unsteadily to her feet, and he followed suit. 'Keep it, I said. You can use it to heal your planet, and then your kind will be able to live there, and we won't have to fight over the earth any more.' She took his hand and folded it firmly around the crystal.

Kish swallowed dryly for a moment or two, and then thanked her with a fluid gesture of his free hand. His mind was spinning, taking in what this meant. He had no doubt that the Mew Aqua could do what she said, and so the battle was over. He could return home. But even as his heart leapt at the thought of seeing his loved ones again, he felt sadness. There was no excuse he could make to stay here any longer, and so he had to face and acknowledge the fact that he might regret going, and every reason for it. He had to choose, finally and completely. He knew already what he had chosen, but that didn't make it any less painful. Almost as if on cue, Ichigo asked:

'Is she pretty?'

'Huh?' he said again, stupidly.

'The girl you love, back on your planet. Is she pretty?'

'Yes,' he blurted, 'she's beautiful. It's the way she smiles at me when everybody else thinks I'm being cruel of flippant...she hated it when I had to go, but she understood why...' The flood of memories was rising now, unstoppable. 'Ichigo, I have to go back to her,' he said, almost pleadingly. 'I can't abandon her just because – just because I fell in love with you when she wasn't here to fight for herself.' He heard Ichigo gasp, and realised that of course, she had no idea of the complicated feelings that had been battling inside him. He had suspected for a long time that he might not love her, but this was the first she'd heard of it. Would it have been kinder to not mention it at all?

She was crying now. He rubbed her back awkwardly, wondering what to do, but with surprising speed she pulled herself together and said:

'We have to tell the others.'

Oh hell, the others! Were they still fighting and killing one another outside, while he wrestled self-importantly with his own small uncertainties here.

'No,' Ichigo murmured, 'they're not fighting any more, I can feel it.'

Kish blew out a long sigh. 'Then we'll go to them. Tell them what we've decided. Pai will agree; he's not as pig-headed as all that. Our people have always been his top priority, he'll be keen to start –'

'Will I ever see you again?' Ichigo asked in a small voice.

'I don't know. I think...' He floundered, considering. 'I think I might...I might come back...don't hold your breath but...yes. Maybe. Probably.'

'Hmmm.' There was just a hint of the old spark back in her eyes. 'How old are you?'

'About fifteen, in your years. Why?'

'I was just thinking, fifteen isn't so very old. You might change your mind.'

'You're incorrigible,' he said, shaking his head. He saw her blanche and immediately regretted it. In truth he was touched, touched that he meant that much to her, and her unshakable hope was making him all the more sorry that he had to leave her.

'Do you think, Kisshu,' she said, in a subdued tone, 'that there's any way we could have been together? Maybe, if we'd both been human and you'd been able to choose fairly between me and her, or if you'd come to Earth not loving anyone? I just want to know...that it wasn't totally stupid.'

Totally stupid? Of course it hadn't been that. He placed his hands gingerly on her shoulders.

'Maybe things might have turned out differently,' he said. 'Ichigo, you're special, and one day you will be very happy. And I will never forget you, because you are...my all-time favourite kitten...'

And he pressed his lips to hers.

A long, sweet, honest kiss, broken only when they heard the calls and footsteps of the others clattering in the passage outside. Then they released one another and turned, somehow refreshed and understanding themselves more fully than before, to counteract the bitterness of parting with the sweetness of peace.

Ichigo watched Kish head towards his comrades, beginning to speak swiftly in their own language, and though she knew this might be the last time she ever saw him, she somehow felt more hopeful than ever. She could carry on without him, now that she knew he loved her, and there was no reason to think of this as the absolute end. On some future occasion, she might have better luck...

But for now she turned away, back to Shirogane-san, back to Aoyama, and back to the dear friends who had fought beside her through it all. She let them pull her into joyful embraces, a little sad, but no longer lonely. She looked back at Kish once, over her shoulder. Tomorrow she might go to kendo practise and cheer, and in ten years they might meet again. And no matter what happened then, she had friends on other worlds.

No, she wasn't lonely any more.

**A/N: Feeble last line, I know. Sorry! And I used '...'s too many times, and Deep Blue came out really incompetent, now I come to think of it...he was missing on purpose, OK guys!**

**I just wish I'd found some more powerful way to deliver those last few lines. And I just feel that, somehow, this came out wrong...maybe it's because I've left it for so long. Maybe I should re-read the rest of it, re-tune to the nuances that I'd fed in, and then try again...but anyway, for now, there you have it. **

**Many thanks for tuning in!**

**True**


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